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International Relief Foundation is one of the few INGOs that has been able to access the most hard-to-reach areas on the outskirts of flooded Merca town.

Aid workers have reported is dire for those affected with the force migration from their villages due to ongoing infighting between Al Shabab militia and AMISOM. Some of those IDPs came with healthy warning such as acute watery diarrhea.

In South West State, an estimated 174,000 people have been affected by localised flash flooding in most towns. The worst affected places are those hosting IDPs in low-lying areas. Meanwhile, riverine flooding in Lower Shabelle has also displaced nearly 6,914 people from Brava to Marka to seek humanitarian assistance.

These vulnerable communities, are mainly of marginalised and minority clans in the area, are the worst affected who has not rightfully received the needed attention, even though they may have been impacted equally or even worse than others.

There are problems with sanitation as there are now no toilets or latrines in this area. The health problem will definitely worsen due to lack of toilets and sanitation facilities. The IDPs use bushes for their toilet needs.

IRF jointly with Caritas donated food & non-food packs to feed over 1000 people in the most vulnerable, hard-to-reach households, but this supply will only be enough to last 20-30 days.

The items consisting of rice, flour, sugar, cooking oil, mosquitos nets, blankets and tarpaulins were delivered to the displaced flood and drought victim in Merca South Western State of Somalia.

IRF began working in Somalia in 2011, providing emergency relief,education, food distribution, health, water supply, sanitation, conflict transformation, Ramadan food parcels and Qurbani meat to poor families in the Banadir, Bay and Lower Shabelle Regions. Our country office is in Mogadishu, with other field office in Baidoa.

The items consisting of rice, flour, sugar, cooking oil, mosquitos nets, blankets and tarpaulins were delivered to the displaced flood and drought victim in Baidoa South Western State of Somalia.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, the flooding has affected more than 750,000 people with more than 229,000 displaced. Communities most affected by the flooding stay along the Shabelle and Jubba rivers.

The flooding, caused by the unusually heavy rains, has also led to fatalities and damage to infrastructure.

A majority of the flood victims in Bay and Lower Shabelle regions are extremely vulnerable and currently classified as being under Humanitarian Emergency and or Acute Food and Livelihood Crisis .

The target groups of this intervention are the most vulnerable floods hit communities. These include mostly women, children, elders and minorities.

Severe drought is devastating communities in Somalia dependent on livestock and agriculture, leading to increasing concerns of massive hunger across the country.

Drought and conflict have left 6.2 million people on the brink of starvation and in urgent need of food, water and medical treatment. People are already dying in Somalia. Women, children and older people are suffering the most; more than 200,000 children under five are severely malnourished. Without immediate treatment, they are at risk of starving to death.

Helping communities in need is a top priority for the IRF, which so far this year has assisted 60,000 people. To help communities access whatever water is available, the IRF so successfully provided water trucking and medicines for AWD/cholera and WASH in the Bay region Southern Somalia.

Since the agency was established in 2011, we have responded to countless more emergencies, as well as establishing long term projects such as schools, healthcare clinics and livelihood programmes.

We also rebuild, renovate and equipped hospitals in Brava and Merka in Lower Shabelle region of Somalia.

International Relief Foundation (IRF) has donated hospital furniture and medical equipment to Forlanini General Hospital also known as (Lazaretti Hospital), located in Abdi Aziz district north Mogadishu it was one of the largest and is the only mental hospital in Mogadishu and plays an extremely important role for the community in this City of conflict. These were donated by Companions of the Order of Malta.

The donation was presided over by Rt Hon Sharif Mohamed Said, an important member of the Federal Parliament of Somalia, and the founder of International Relief Foundation.

The Director of the Forlanini Hospital, Drs. Fadumo Abdi Ma’ow, warmly appreciated the donation while also highlighting the necessity for more equipment to meet the needs of the local population.

With donor support, International Relief Foundation (IRF) is reaching the hardest hit villages and providing starving children with a 3 month supply of nutritional packets.

Filled with a peanut-butter like paste, each packet gives a malnourished child the nutrition and vitamins they need to survive.

The aim of the project was to respond drought affected areas in the south of Somalia and to combat malnutrition among the children by distributing emergency F75 & F100 food nutrition relief to those malnourished children in Mogadishu and parts of southwest Somalia.

Challenge

Somalia is being devastated by a long-lasting and severe drought. A lack of rain has caused crops to decline and farming animals to die. Weak and vulnerable, children are not getting the nutrition they need to stay alive. Sick and hungry, children are beyond the need of a meal. They need emergency nutrition.

Solution

Nutriset packets provide a nutritional boost to a malnourished child. Taken daily for 3 months, these packets restore a child’s battered immune system, strengthening them and giving them every chance of making a full recovery.

Filled with a peanut-like paste, the packets contain all the daily nutrients and vitamins a starving child needs. Nutriset packets are the most practical and affordable solution to a massive food crisis in Somalia.

Long-Term Impact

With full bellies, children are not only healthier and happier, but they are also able to learn faster and enjoy life to the fullest. Even in the midst of a drought, a donor can ensure a child is nourished and fed, removing a huge worry for parents who are trying to rebuild their lives, plant crops, and raise healthy animals.

This of course has a ripple effect on the community as families become healthier and are at less risk of losing their children to hunger.

The aim of the project was to respond drought affected areas in the south of Somalia and to combat malnutrition among the children by distributing emergency food nutrition relief to those malnourished children in Mogadishu and parts of southwest Somalia.

The project was funded by IRF. The project objective is the provision of basic food needs, in this case milk and Biscuits, to be distributed to children of different ethnic groups, aged between birth and 5 years, living in refugee camps for displaced persons in the area of Mogadishu.

The beneficiaries were 260 families, with 858 vulnerable identified as those who are in special situations of poverty and malnutrition, in 11 IDP camps in Mogadishu.

Over the past 12 months, the IRF activities in Somalia have been dominated by providing the emergency assistance required by the major drought-induced food insecurity and by the needs of those who have suffered the famine.

The emergency food distributions for children in the IDP camps, launched in response to the crisis that started in 2011 as a result of the drought and conflict,

The International Relief Foundation (IRF) has distributed of non food items (NFIs), including the following materials: tarpaulin (for shelter), blankets, and treated mosquito nets for the people affected by drought, conflict, hunger during and extreme climate conditions.

The programme, which delivered emergency aid funded by CARITAS Somalia and implemented by IRF , helped 28,00 of the most vulnerable people in Mogadishu Somalia.

It targeted mostly displaced women, children and older people in the Sharif Abbow, Iftiin, Odwen, Alow Sahal IDPs camps and the former UNICEF field.

IRF was amongst the first organisations that took initiative in helping the drought-affected Somali people who immigrated from home towns and villages to become refugees at the IDP camps in Mogadishu.

The International Relief Foundation (IRF) is currently distributing food to 8,000 people in areas affected by severe drought and conflict a in southern Somalia. This is the first large-scale food distribution in that part of the country since the beginning of the year.

There is an immediate crisis due to the drought which caused loss of livestock and consequently an increase in the cost of raw materials available in the market. The most affected group are the families of small scale farmers, who rely on farm produce for their own consumption and in particular women and children, who play an important role in agricultural production.

Some 8,000 people in the Baidoa, Bay region have directly benefited from the integrated programme, which delivered emergency aid as communities grappled with severe drought, famine and conflict with families receiving enough, rice, flour, Sugar, dates , and Cooking Oil to last them one month.

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About IRF

The IRF is a UK based registered charitable organisation with the Charity Commission was established in 2011, and it was founded to tackle the devastating effects of the 2011/12 famine that blighted the Horn of Africa and affected almost 13 million people.